90 Most Inspirational Sports Quotes Of All Time

Yes, we watch sports for the excitement, but even moreso, we watch it for the drama. There’s nothing more exciting than seeing a team come back to win that 4th series game after being down 0-3, or a fighter getting off the canvas to score a come from behind knock-out. Sports are about those incredible moments where sheer human will and desire overcomes the odds. These are the moments we remember.

Given the nature of sports, its not surprising that athletes have had some inspiring and motivational things to say about hard work, leadership, perseverance, winning, and much more. Here are the top 90 most motivational sports quotes in history:

90. “Baseball is the only field of endeavor where a man can succeed three times out of ten and be considered a good performer.”– Ted Williams

88. “The five S’s of sports training are: stamina, speed, strength, skill, and spirit; but the greatest of these is spirit.”– Ken Doherty

87. “An athlete cannot run with money in his pockets. He must run with hope in his heart and dreams in his head.”– Emil Zatopek

86. “Somewhere behind the athlete you’ve become and the hours of practice and the coaches who have pushed you is a little girl who fell in love with the game and never looked back… play for her.”– Mia Hamm

63. “Sports serve society by providing vivid examples of excellence.”– George F. Will

62. “The principle is competing against yourself. It’s about self-improvement, about being better than you were the day before.”– Steve Young

61. “The road to Easy Street goes through the sewer.”– John Madden

60. “You are never really playing an opponent. You are playing yourself, your own highest standards, and when you reach your limits, that is real joy.”– Arthur Ashe

59. “What makes something special is not just what you have to gain, but what you feel there is to lose.”– Andre Agassi

58. “The more difficult the victory, the greater the happiness in winning.”– Pele

57. “One man can be a crucial ingredient on a team, but one man cannot make a team. ”– Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

56. “Nobody who ever gave his best regretted it.”– George Halas

55. “Stubbornness usually is considered a negative; but I think that trait has been a positive for me.”– Cal Ripken Jr.

54. “You’ve got to take the initiative and play your game. In a decisive set, confidence is the difference.”– Chris Evert

53. “When you win, say nothing, when you lose, say less.”– Paul Brown

52. “The hardest skill to acquire in this sport is the one where you compete all out, give it all you have, and you are still getting beat no matter what you do. When you have the killer instinct to fight through that, it is very special.”– Eddie Reese

51. “The mind is the limit. As long as the mind can envision the fact that you can do something, you can do it, as long as you really believe 100 percent.”– Arnold Schwarzenegger

50. “When I go out there, I have no pity on my brother. I am out there to win.”– Joe Frazier

49. “During my 18 years I came to bat almost 10,000 times. I struck out about 1,700 times and walked maybe 1,800 times. You figure a ballplayer will average about 500 at bats a season. That means I played seven years without ever hitting the ball.”– Mickey Mantle

48. “I never left the field saying I could have done more to get ready and that gives me piece of mind.”– Peyton Manning

47. “Leadership, like coaching, is fighting for the hearts and souls of men and getting them to believe in you.”– Eddie Robinson

46. “You win some, you lose some, and some get rained out, but you gotta suit up for them all.”– J. Askenberg

45. “Always make a total effort, even when the odds are against you.”– Arnold Palmer

43. “You have to expect things of yourself before you can do them.”– Michael Jordan

42. “To uncover your true potential you must first find your own limits and then you have to have the courage to blow past them.”– Picabo Street

41. “Show me a guy who’s afraid to look bad, and I’ll show you a guy you can beat every time.”– Lou Brock

40. “You can motivate by fear, and you can motivate by reward. But both those methods are only temporary. The only lasting thing is self motivation.”– Homer Rice

39. “You find that you have peace of mind and can enjoy yourself, get more sleep, and rest when you know that it was a one hundred percent effort that you gave–win or lose.”– Gordie Howe

38. “My motto was always to keep swinging. Whether I was in a slump or feeling badly or having trouble off the field, the only thing to do was keep swinging.”– Hank Aaron

37. “I didn’t believe in team motivation. I believe in getting a team prepared so it knows it will have the necessary confidence when it steps on the field and be prepared to play a good game.”– Tom Landry

36. “If you train hard, you’ll not only be hard, you’ll be hard to beat.”– Herschel Walker

23. “Push yourself again and again. Don’t give an inch until the final buzzer sounds.”– Larry Bird

22. “If you aren’t going all the way, why go at all?”– Joe Namath

21. “You can’t put a limit on anything. The more you dream, the farther you get.”– Michael Phelps

20. “Do not let what you can not do interfere with what you can do.”– John Wooden

19. “Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever.”– Lance Armstrong

18. “Wisdom is always an overmatch for strength.”– Phil Jackson

17. “The will to win is important, but the will to prepare is vital.”– Joe Paterno

16. “Adversity cause some men to break; others to break records.”– William A. Ward

15. “Never let your head hang down. Never give up and sit down and grieve. Find another way.”– Satchel Paige

14. “Some people say I have attitude – maybe I do…but I think you have to. You have to believe in yourself when no one else does – that makes you a winner right there. ”– Venus Williams

13. “Never let the fear of striking out get in your way.”– Babe Ruth

12. “It is not the size of a man but the size of his heart that matters.”– Evander Holyfield

11. “I hated every minute of training, but I said, ‘Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.’”– Muhammad Ali

10. “There are only two options regarding commitment. You’re either IN or you’re OUT. There is no such thing as life in-between.”– Pat Riley

9. “A champion is someone who gets up when he can’t.”– Jack Dempsey

8. “It ain’t over till it’s over.”– Yogi Berra

7. “You’re never a loser until you quit trying.”– Mike Ditka

6. “Never give up! Failure and rejection are only the first step to succeeding.”– Jim Valvano

5. “You miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take.”– Wayne Gretzky

4. “The highest compliment that you can pay me is to say that I work hard every day, that I never dog it.”– Wayne Gretzky

3. “Gold medals aren’t really made of gold. They’re made of sweat, determination, and a hard-to-find alloy called guts.”– Dan Gable

2. “I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”– Michael Jordan

1. “It’s not whether you get knocked down; it’s whether you get up.”– Vince Lombardi